


my little loon

by mildlydiscouraging



Series: ephemera on my back [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Accidental Sleepover, Casual Magic, Comfort, Gen, Lullabies, Memories, Team as Family, Thunder and Lightning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 19:06:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10394064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mildlydiscouraging/pseuds/mildlydiscouraging
Summary: While weather doesn't really affect the inhabitants of the second moon, some people still can't get to sleep, or at least stay that way. Angus has a nightmare. Taako's childhood resurfaces. I cry myself to sleep listening to Sufjan Stevens every night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> in my mind, it's important to note, the b.o.b. headquarters is really not a moon. i mean, yeah, in canon it's "big ship within the planet's atmosphere that can move", but i'm talking like "giant moon shape drawn on plywood propped up in front of a hovering college campus" level shit. so, y'know, there's weather and stuff. the buildings are all shaped like domes but you can walk around outside and shit. it's magic, whatever.
> 
> the song is "[fourth of july](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTeKpWp8Psw)" by sufjan stevens. imagine it in elvish. hoo boy.

Taako doesn't really think about things too deeply. He follows everyone with an air of suspicion and hangs back to let other people suffer first, only getting introspective as a way to make himself stronger and better looking. He doesn't remember his childhood because it wouldn't help and he doesn't think about the past unless it's to learn from a mistake—he remembers, but he doesn't reminisce, and he basically operates on a need-to-know basis.

So when it rains on the moon Taako doesn't ask why. He figures that even if someone tried to explain it to him he wouldn't understand, just like how he doesn't understand how they don't all pass out immediately breathing in air that thin, or how the bathrooms work, or how they even stay that high up in the first place. It rains, they walk around outside, the toilet flushes, and they hover over the entire planet with no problem. He's got other things to think about, like the fate of the world and shit.

This time, when it rains on the moon, it pours. It's too dark outside to see anything more than a few glints of water, but the sound of raindrops throwing themselves carelessly against the living room skylight is almost unbearable. Earplugs, a pile of pillows, and increasingly annoyed humming isn't enough to drown it out, as hard as Taako tries. Even in his room with the door closed and the curtains drawn he can't escape it. The thick rolling thunder and thrashing of rain overpowers every thought and Taako is going to rip his own beautiful hair out, which would be a loss for everyone.

Taako emerges from his halfway sound dampening cave and feels around for his slippers. When his feet make contact with nothing but cold hardwood, he winces, rubbing his face with one hand as the other waves around neatly to zip the closest pair of socks onto him. His room being the disaster it is, it isn't that long a wait. The socks dislodge something in one corner and a teetering pile finally falls, but he doesn't really notice. A boom of thunder rattles the doorknob in his hand as he turns it.

He goes into the living room in hopes of finding either something to stuff in his ears or cover the window with so he can finally get some sleep. Even though he can see plenty well in the dark, he casts a little ball of light in the palm of his hand. No use in the strain, he guesses, and he can feel a headache collecting in the front of his mind already anyway. Maybe there's more blankets or some earmuffs or something...

Dimly he remembers Angus crashing on the couch after a particularly tiresome magic lesson, but it doesn't register until there's a yelp and a body crashing into his middle. Even then it takes Taako a second and he blinks blankly at the air in front of him as he stumbles.

"I'm sorry, Taako, sir, I was going to go back to my room eventually but it was so cold and wet and I didn't want to get struck by lightning and..."

Angus has a huge blanket around his shoulders—which Taako recognizes from Magnus's room so he will _definitely_  be having a conversation about enabling in the morning—and looks like he tried to use a tent as a makeshift cape in a wind storm. His dumb little tie and glasses are missing, one sock slumped around his ankle stupid and just a little endearing, and he's babbling nonsense, and Taako can't see his face but the front of his shirt is now wet, and oh shit, the kid's crying.

While Taako flounders, Angus pulls back and wipes his face. "I'm sorry," he says around sniffles. "It's just the storm, and it's so _loud_ , and—"

Another clap of simultaneous thunder and lightning hits, making Magnus's shitty paintings rattle on the walls as Angus throws himself at Taako again. He shrieks a little in a way that Taako would totally mock if he had the ability to, but instead all he does is stand there, somehow. Angus is crying again and he doesn't know what to do, making this the first time his childhood has really properly screwed him over. He doesn't know how to  _hold_ people, how to  _comfort_. What the fuck.

When the boy wonder's blanket cape starts to slip off one shoulder, though, Taako grabs it and tucks it back in. Not too troubling. Then he feels his own arms following instead of pulling away, wrapping around Angus's shoulders without his permission. Again, what the fuck.

Taako doesn't really think about things too deeply. Which is a fine system that works most of the time, but then something like this will surface. Angus snuffles and his messy hair twitches and his face rubs against Taako's favorite sleep shirt and Taako is... somewhere else. It's like his brain takes a step to the left and he can see himself both putting a hand on Angus's bedhead and in miniscule on the other side of the room.

It's a scrappy meadow, uneven grass just a little long enough to cross over from "idyllic" to "unkempt". Taako is smaller than he ever remembers being, smaller than even Angus is now, flat on his back with one hand firmly entrenched in a mud puddle. The grass tickles his abnormally pointy ears. Even though he didn't see it, Taako knows he's just slipped in a hidden slick, feels the tears clamoring in the corner of his eyes, knows he won't let them fall. A tall figure comes up behind him, hood drawn over their head, and oh, now it's nearing dusk. Taako is sitting up, still muddy, and the figure opens their arms as Taako stumbles to them. He feels fabric just as soft as his own shirt and a long cloak covering them both, feels humming in his ear.

The hood slips and a woman smiles down at him, over them. A wave of thunder rolls through, but Taako still hears himself laugh and Angus whimper in the same breath. Something connects the two scenes other than their similarities in staging. It's more than the same hug; it's the same feeling, like déjà vu but so much stronger.

When the other two walk away, Taako's knees waver and he tightens his grip on Angus's shoulder. Lightning flashes and— The other side of the room is just the other side of the room again. A line of cloaks by the door, Magnus's huge, muddy boots next to Merle's ridiculous loafers that are falling apart at the seams, books Angus conveniently forgot on the shelves, Taako's own face reflected back at him in the mirror with the warped corner on the wall.

Taako feels Angus take another breath, this one deeper like the one's he does when he's trying to collect himself, and suddenly Taako's instincts do a 180° and he won't let go. Someone else's lullaby is running oblongs in his mind and he feels off course as he steers them back to the sofa. Angus ducks his head and pulls away until Taako tugs free his blanket cape and joins him.

"You afraid of the storm, Agnes?"

Angus shakes his head vehemently but still leans against Taako. "No, sir," he says. "It's just that the noise woke me up and I didn't remember where I was and I had a horrible nightmare and it was a confluence of scary events. That's all."

Taako doesn't quite believe him, but nightmares and therefore the fears of the subconscious are a bit too much for him to want to delve into on so little sleep, so he lets it slide.

"Right," he says. "Well, it's a good thing you've got Taako here to ease your troubled mind."

"I'm not _troubled_. I was just scared." Taako's arm descends around Angus's shoulders again in the least awkward way possible for the situation. "I may be the best boy detective in the world, but I'm still just a boy."

 _Now_ Taako knows why he remembered.

"Do you miss your parents, kiddo?" Taako has never really been tentative in his life, but he supposes there's a first for everything. He's being a pioneer, that's all. Right?

Instead of answering, Angus fiddles with the edge of the blanket. The rain thrums back in in the interlude to the point where they don't feel the need to continue. Here on the sofa, in their makeshift blanket cave heated only by their breathing, it doesn't matter. The storm is still pounding above them, but like any sound listened to long enough Taako can feel the imaginary rhythm in it, and he remembers again.

He starts out humming, then singing, as quietly and rusty as possible. The Elvish feels apologetically clunky on his tongue, but Angus relaxes infinitesimally so he continues. Eventually the song turns and Angus perks up as he can recognize the words, but the blanket weighs heavily around them and neither really moves.

By the time the lyrics run out and Taako finishes humming the ending, Angus is almost asleep again. The thunder and lightning have stopped and only the rain continues as he says, "That's not a particularly pleasant song, sir."

Taako hums, considering. Their blanket is blue, faded from sunshine but sturdy and warm. His mother's cloak was green, but it feels the same.

"No, Ango, I guess it's not."

Angus nods slowly a few times before his head droops. He's slumped completely onto Taako, half on his chest but slowly sliding down into his lap, and his tiny button up and slacks are all wrinkled.

"I still like it," he mumbles.

Taako takes a deep breath. "Yeah," he whispers. "Me too."

When he falls asleep, one hand woven into Angus's hair, boy detective tears drying on his shirt, he is still humming.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first attempt at writing taz fic! i really love this podcast irreparably and have wanted to write it for ages but idk if i got the voices write. taako is my fav, in case u haven't noticed, and also i would kill for angus macdonald boy detective. anyway, please be nice lmao
> 
> eta 21/3: THANK YOU SO MUCH Y'ALL i'm so thankful fr all your nice comments & kudos! you guys are all so welcoming, it's inspiring & i'm working on another taz fic as we speak lol
> 
> tumblr @[moonfullofstars](http://moonfullofstars.tumblr.com)


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